Texas DL Charles Omenihu among most disruptive in Big 12

DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Charles Omenihu #90 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates after a play against the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half of the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Omenihu tends to punctuate sentences with three words — You feel me? he’ll say in a flat, throaty voice — though that seeming question is never actually a question. It’s grown into something of a subconscious act, an audible blink.

Sixth-ranked Texas’ opponents have sure felt Omenihu of late. He has collected seven tackles for loss, five sacks and four quarterback hurries over his last three games in what has been a season of shattered benchmarks and stirring highlights.

“It’s great that he stayed,” senior nose tackle Chris Nelson said. “His mindset has changed tremendously. You can see his preparation has been great. On Saturdays he’s quicker, faster, he’s getting of the ball. I feel like he’s more confident within himself when he walks onto the field.”

Omenihu nearly traded Saturdays for Sundays. It took a raw, uncompromising self-assessment to convince him otherwise.

In early January, Omenihu was weighing whether to enter the 2018 draft as an underclassman, pouring over an evaluation he requested from the NFL’s College Advisory Committee.

He arrived at a simple conclusion: He wasn’t feeling himself, not as a pro, not yet.

“When you get a grade that isn’t as high as you want, that’s a factor,” Omenihu said. “You look at the tape, and you have to be honest with yourself. Those dudes in the NFL are not playing no games with you. They’re all grown. You feel me?

“Once you get to that level, your technique and your mental capacity and focus have to be top notch or you’ll be exposed. NFL stands for ‘Not for Long,’ so once you get in it’s either you can withstand it or you can’t. If you can’t, you’re not going to be there long.”

Omenihu remained real to himself and resisted the temptation to leave Texas, even as five underclassmen teammates embarked on their own NFL journey. He said he left too many plays out on the field, wasn’t yet ready to tangle with the grown men in the league above.

The 6-foot-6 senior shed 3 percent body fat, dropped from about 280 pounds to a chiseled 275 — still 20 pounds heavier than his sophomore playing weight — and increased his maximum vertical jump to 37½ inches. He moved serious weight in the gym and focused on building up his fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Omenihu reached out to past players who once manned the Longhorns’ defensive front, formed a constellation of connections to help him round the edges of his game. Alex Okfaor, Brian Orakpo, Tim Crowder, Cory Redding, Sam and Emmanuel Acho were all in touch.

Their advice and guidance, coupled with that of UT’s coaching staff, helped Omenihu check off many of the boxes — harden in the run game, understand how to utilize length and leverage, grasp blocking schemes — he needed to.

“There’s a legacy you have to live up to,” Omenihu said. “I used to talk to those guys before I even got here as a freshman and just looked up to the work that they did. I’ve watched their tape from back when they played here, so they’ve all talked to me numerous times.”

But it was a slow start, frustrating both for Omenihu and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando. The line wasn’t generating the type of pressure that was expected of it, and though there were occasional flashes of a new Omenihu, he had compiled only 10 tackles and one sack through four games.

That changed during a trip to Manhattan, Kan.

Omenihu turned what had been a longtime house of horrors for Texas into his own funhouse, recording three tackles for loss and two sacks while terrorizing two Kansas State quarterbacks in a 19-14 win. He followed that with two more tackles for loss and another sack in UT’s 48-45 victory over Oklahoma.

After triumphing in his final Red River Showdown, Omenihu sat beside coach Tom Herman for the post-game press conference. Just two years removed from spiking his helmet into the turf and howling into the bitter Kansas air following an overtime loss to the Jayhawks, here he was, a new and improved man with a new and improved outlook.

“It feels really good — for this guy sitting right here, this senior,” Herman said, nodding toward Omenihu. “Been through a lot. The other seniors on this team that have been through a lot, they’ve earned this. ”

Two weeks ago, Omenihu put his full power on display in a 23-17 win over Baylor.

He twice sacked quarterback Charlie Brewer and hurried him on four other occasions. With a fresh set of downs, 12 seconds remaining, and Baylor 17 yards from the end zone, Omenihu broke into the pocket and pressured Brewer on each of the game’s final three plays.

Brewer released his final pass just as Omenihu lunged for his midsection. The ball flittered out of the end zone, sealing the Longhorns’ sixth straight win.

“Having a game like that is part of the reason why I came back because that’s what I need to be doing,” Omenihu said. “I need to be having dominant performances, I need to sack the quarterback multiple times, have tackles for loss, that’s what I need to do in order to help the team — you feel me.”